Deliver Me
by Miss Fi
Summary: Xellos is retired and needs some help adjusting.
1. Deliver Me Chapter One

Deliver Me

By:  Miss Fi

_Disclaimer:  I do not own any of these characters, I simply put them in new circumstances._

_Chapter One_

            Zelas Metallium had discarded her minion.  Recently she had been considering a new and improved model.  Her faith in her old creation, Xellos, had been waning as of late.  He actually caused her some doubt these days about his effectiveness.  He seemed to be very distracted by a certain female dragon, and she could not have any of that.  In fact as she imbued her new creation, she should have destroyed the old, but she did still have a small fondness for him.  For this reason she merely drained him of all but his most rudimentary powers and abilities, leaving him but a shell of his former self.  Xellos had been retired.  He now only had a past and no future with his mistress.

            Drifting in the astral plane, Xellos lay as if dead.  He was a ghost of his former self.  After millennia of being ordered and instructed, he now had no idea of what to do.  He had always had a purpose and a mission, and now there was nothing.  A myriad of unfamiliar feeling emotions boiled inside him.  Emotions he knew very well in others, and had enjoyed very thoroughly.  They bubbled in him causing a pain, like fire.  This agony, always so delicious in others, was horrifying.  Fear, anger, betrayal, confusion, and loneliness; how did anyone go on like this?  He was nothing now, weak and insignificant, a target for more powerful of his kind to destroy.  He knew he wouldn't have many friends now that he was weaker than all of them.  On and on these thoughts circled through his mind, taunting and teasing him with no reprieve.  He lay like this for days, becoming more and more despondent.

            Gently, like the softest breeze, Xellos sensed something.  Probably nothing and he sank back into his black prison.  Again, like a tiny nudge, it was there.  Clawing up out of his despair he concentrated on the anomaly.  His name whispered on the astral currents like a trembling leaf.  Someone was trying to find him!  Suddenly in a flash of intuition he knew who would bother to summon someone as powerless as he.  Of course she knew of his miserable downfall, and pitiful existence.  She despised him thoroughly and now finally she would be able to have the upper hand!  A position she so desired but could never attain until now.  She had been repeatedly bested by him in the war of words that he found so amusing with her.  Her temper was like a powder keg with a tiny fuse.  Constantly he wound her in intellectual circles only to make her look the fool.  She was so predictable and easy to ignite!  She was delicious really, a walking buffet of tasty foul emotions.  Well he would be damned if he would give her that satisfaction!  If she wanted to best him she would have to work harder than that!  Xellos wasn't going to let an amateur like her think that she had the slightest chance.  He sank bitterly back into his foul malaise.  


	2. Deliver Me Chapter Two

Deliver Me

By:  Miss Fi

_Disclaimer:  I do not own any of these characters, I simply put them in new circumstances._

_Chapter Two_

Filia knew that he was alive with every fibre of her being.  She also knew without doubt that he was hurt.  It was no secret anywhere that he had been replaced in the Mazoku hierarchy.  It was also no speculation that he would be an easy target to countless hunters out to eliminate the one who had so easily manipulated and embarrassed the unwary.  His own infamy was now to his disadvantage.

            She had tried calling to him, as had always seemed to work before, but he was not responding.  She was worried but also simultaneously she berated herself for even caring to become involved in his sorry plight.  He had always been a thorn in her side, and now he was receiving his reward.  He deserved whatever befell him!  It seemed fitting that he was thrown away like the trash he was!  The foul monster had repeatedly ridiculed and embarrassed her.  He eroded her authority at every chance, and made her display terrible actions in public.  He had gotten her arrested for fun, and disgraced her in front of her elders.  Xellos was a no good, childish, immature, prankster with nothing better to do than prey on poor innocent maidens!  The atrocities he had committed to her own race where more than enough to warrant his condemnation.  He was the worst kind of evil, devious and charming.  He deserved what he got!  Continually these arguments chased each other in her thoughts, but she just couldn't extinguish the tiny spark of pity she felt.  

            Eventually that pity began to grow and she began to feel the beginnings of empathy for her foe.  She realized that now they had something in common.  They had both been discarded by their most trusted family.  The Supreme Elder had revealed that she was nothing to him or their race in the presence of all her friends and enemies.  She had been told that her life was worthless!  That cold sensation of ultimate betrayal still haunted her.  They had both been betrayed by the one whom neither would have doubted.  They had done all that was asked of them, and in payment had become pariahs to their own species!  She slowly began to understand his true plight and her fear for him grew.  If only she could find him!

            Filia needed help to find Xellos, but that would require admitting to an interest that she wasn't quite ready to share with her fellow companions.  They knew of the situation, but so far had not taken any action whatsoever.  They didn't act as if anything were amiss.  They seemed so cold when it came to Xellos' situation.  They behaved as if he weren't their friend, as annoying and frustrating as he could be.  She knew that they had traveled together before meeting her, and even displayed a strange camaraderie.  She couldn't understand what would make such an active group so placid when a comrade was in danger.  They constantly flew into danger for much less. Frankly they seemed resolved to whatever fate was to befall him.  Their behaviour puzzled her as much as Xellos worried her.


	3. Deliver Me Chapter Three

Deliver Me

By:  Miss Fi

_Disclaimer:  I do not own any of these characters, I simply put them in new circumstances._

_Chapter Three_

            Negative emotions poured from Xellos as he was held in his torpor.  Like beacons they attracted all numbers of his brethren eager to feast on his misfortune, from the most insignificant to his former peers.  They all were attracted to his weakness like sharks to blood.  His condition was simply an opportunity to another Mazoku.  Bitterly he was forced to flee these vultures as he was powerless to defend himself against even the most pathetic.  After weeks of constant running and hiding he began to feel despondent.  Xellos started becoming sloppy and careless when he hid.  Almost as if he was hoping to be found and caught.  He wondered why he bothered to run at all.  There was no purpose for his continued existence.  Pathetic, weak, insignificant, he had become everything he despised.  He had taken to feeding off the negative emotions from himself, but these did little to nourish him and actually weakened his state.  Xellos looked at how far he had sunk and retreated into his own black thoughts.

            It was during one of these retreats into his mind that he failed to notice, or chose to ignore, the presence of another Mazoku.  This one was finished with this game of cat and mouse, and was here to finish the miserable wretch off.  The emotions that Xellos projected were so heady that if he could salivate, he would be standing in a puddle.  The plans this monster had for his prey would catapult him into stardom!  Xellos would be made to suffer like no monster ever had!  A grudge that is nursed with hatred long enough is able to blossom into a creation that goes beyond sanity.  This particular monster had been planning an end for Xellos for hundreds of years before his untimely downfall.  He had scoured the planes for the perfect revenge for a slight that he didn't even remember.  Finally he had found it, and now it wasn't even going to be work to destroy Xellos. It figured that Xellos was able to mess up his plans even in his pitiful state.  He had so looked forward to destroying a healthy and powerful Xellos, but this would do anyhow.

            With that final thought he launched his attack at the distracted Mazoku.  Xellos knew the attack was coming, but he was tired and resolved to make his last move in the game.  He knew he wouldn't survive the coming horror, but he figured it was only a matter of time before he was so weak from malnourishment that he wouldn't even be able to face his destroyer.  It was a cosmic joke that his destroyer would be one that he had let live on sufferance simply because the fool had once made him laugh with his stupidity and ineptitude.  A terrible renting pain sliced through his body as the monster attacked him with a fury born of insanity.  He was tossed like a rag doll to and fro as the attacker ripped into him like an animal.  Shreds of him were already bleeding away, it wouldn't be long now.  Savagely he was being eviscerated and gobbled up.  Xellos wasn't able to bear the searing agony any longer, and as the destroyer became frenzied in his feeding he cried out one final rending cry saturated with the despair, pain, torment, betrayal, and fear that he felt.  Then he felt no more.


	4. Deliver Me Chapter Four

Deliver Me

By:  Miss Fi

_Disclaimer:  I do not own any of these characters, I simply put them in new circumstances._

_Chapter Four_

Filia awoke straight from deep sleep with a cry.  She did not understand how or why, but she knew without doubt that Xellos was dying.  Leaping from her slumber she raced to her friends rooms, banging wildly on their doors for them to help.  Frantically, she roused the group and in short pants of breath told them what was happening. 

            Without questions or arguments they set to work.  They would summon Xellos from the astral plane, essentially dragging him to them.  They performed their tasks with deadly urgency, as if they were prepared for such a task.  Filia watched in amazement.  They had not once asked her why she cared or how she knew such information.  They simply set to the task.

            Lina, Zelgadis, and Amelia prepared a summoning circle to draw their sometimes ally and friend from the astral plane to safety.  Zelgadis was critical to the summoning because of his grasp of Shamanic magic and understanding of the astral plane.  Lina would provide the necessary power to boost Zelgadis' spell, and Amelia was the stopgap to complete the spell and close the tear they were about to rip between the planes.  This kind of spell could be dangerous if the portal wasn't closed properly because it would leave a doorway for many other terrible things to enter their realm.

            Within moments the room was alight with the electrical currents of powerful magic.  There was a pressure building inside the room that took the breath from the lungs.  The power pulsed in regular waves of energy that became increasingly short in timing.  Suddenly when another pulse would have been too much to bear; a tear ripped into existence inside the summoning circle.  With an audible pop a bloodied and flaccid Xellos was dropped to the floor.  The energy waves that had been so intense were gone and all that remained was a charred mark on the floor where the circle had been.

            Choking back a strangled sob Filia rushed to the body lying crumpled on the floor and cradled him to her body.  She felt the faintest stirring and then nothing.  Amelia inspected the gravely injured Mazoku and pronounced that he lived, but would need much care to survive his ordeals.  With this Gourry moved in to pick up the feather light monster and gently deposited him in Filia's suite.  Without comment the group left Filia alone with an unconscious Xellos for the remainder of the night.

            Filia immediately set to inspecting Xellos' injuries and wounds and gently cleaning the blood from his torn body.  She gently moved the violet hair from his face with the faintest of touches and received a small twitch of his lips for reward.  

            With him cleaned up and resting quietly on her bed, Filia sat and stared at her charge.  Why was she doing this?  He was an evil, murdering monster, and it was in her power to destroy him.  She should gleefully take advantage of his pain and suffering; but that was the problem.  Evil revelled in pain and suffering; Filia was good.  To wish harm to another was evil regardless of who the unfortunate was.  Therefore for Filia to rescue her enemy she was actually doing a great good by acting benevolent.  With this logic firmly in place in her mind she convinced herself that she was only acting out her pure nature, nothing more.  

            Several long days passed and Xellos had not yet woken.  Filia dutifully kept watch over his sleeping form and continued to treat his wounds.  He looked so helpless and vulnerable bundled in her bed she mused.  How was it possible that he was so evil and corrupted when he slept so peacefully?  How could he be the one monster responsible for so many deaths to her people?  Filia had plenty of time to contemplate these facts and to think about her own history.


	5. Deliver Me Chapter Five

Deliver Me

By:  Miss Fi

_Disclamer__:  Nope don't own them (the characters) just got an active imagination._

_Chapter 5_

Several days passed and Xellos did not wake.  Filia patiently and dutifully treated his wounds and kept watch for signs of improvement.  During this time Filia was left with opportunity to ponder her own place in life and that of her race.  Her mind was overflowing with conflicting ideas and information.  

She had already learned that the truth in anything can be warped to suit one's own needs.  The elders of her race had displayed that truth very effectively in their teachings of the ancient dragons.  Truth was easily manufactured.  She still ached over the fact that her people had committed the atrocity of genocide.  Even Xellos hadn't gone as far as to obliterate her entire race when he could have.  The slaughter committed by the monster had in fact been an act of war on orders by his superiors.  While still a horrifying act, it was within the bounds of war, and not a personal act of racial prejudice.  The truth of this fact was a bitter draught for Filia.  Then there was the truth that her race regularly passed righteous judgment on others from a position of supposed wisdom.  The Golden dragons were as flawed a people as any other, but they refused to acknowledge their failings.  Who were they to decide the fates of others?  

            Next Filia considered the Darkstar prophesy they had fulfilled together.  It seemed almost as though the Fire Dragon King had passed his own judgement on dragon kind.  The dragons were the only race to suffer terrible losses.  Their own foolishness had sealed their sentence.  The deaths had been so unnecessary.  Why had they so blindly chosen to die uselessly?

            Then she remembered the final battle with Darkstar.  The powers of the Gods and the Monsters together were required to succeed.  This could have been an impossible situation if either she or Xellos had finally refused to work with the other.  Together.  Would any of her peers thrown aside their training and racial fears to work with the butcher of their race?  In fact what monster would bother to actually cooperate with a dragon?  

Was it possible that the constant connections between Xellos and herself were coincidences?  It is true that in comparison to their peers each is definitely unique.  In the normal flow of life, she and Xellos should never have even had reason to cross paths.  Something kept snaring them both in the same plans.  Was this why she was spared the fate of her race: because she was willing to think and act outside and beyond her training?

She wondered if Xellos had ever questioned why they kept ending up on the same path.

            Now again they were drawn together when it shouldn't have even been a consideration.  Mere knowledge of the other did not warrant a rescue mission, or even interest in the other's plights.  Yet somehow she couldn't just ignore the situation.  Her conscience wouldn't allow it, yet paradoxically it abhorred the same thing.  These feelings left Filia confused at best, and constantly manifested themselves in the foolish behaviour she routinely displayed any more.  She hardly remembered the intelligent, thoughtful, and caring person she had been before Xellos.  Now she could hardly control herself from the basest of emotions.  She was a priestess who had somehow lost her center and became spiritually unbalanced.  How could she have allowed this state to develop?

           Filia's own experiences and her heart told her that this time Xellos was in more trouble than he had ever been before, and that he would not be able to deal with it alone.  She intuited that he did not have the emotional tools to deal with his situation.  He had plenty of experience at crushing other people's lives, but had never been on the receiving end.  Without help he was likely to be a danger to himself more than those around him.  She knew that it would be a harrowing dip into the greasy blackness of his consciousness. 

Filia had dealt with more guilt and pain than any should bear because of the untimely demise of her peers.  She had felt the indecision of continuing on without guidance and the fear of being all alone in the world.  She knew the doubts, anger, frustration, and betrayal intimately.  Filia hoped that she could reach the thoughts of the Mazoku.  Since realizing his uniqueness she was desperate to preserve him.  Besides she couldn't bear the thought of more senseless death.  She didn't know whether it was prophesy prodding her or her own feelings, but she knew it would be tragedy to lose the Mazoku now.  

            Groggily Xellos climbed into consciousness.  The scent of jasmine and the playful tickle of a warm summer breeze greeted him.  The sun warmed his face and the feather bed he lay in gently cradled him like a lover.  Glancing around, he spotted that dragon girl quietly drowsing in a chair by the bed.  Shocked he abruptly sat up only to sharply inhale in pain.  Head swimming with raw pain he sagged back to the embrace of the bed.  Filia awoke at the utterance of discomfort.  

"Oh dear!  You have mussed up your dressings.  Just lie back and I'll fix them."

"Don't touch me dragon!" he ground out through clenched teeth.  "Why am I here?  What have you done?" he demanded in a cold tone.

"Humph!  I have done nothing but rescue your sorry self from destruction!"  Filia instantly huffed back at the Mazoku.  Such disrespect and selfishness could only be expected from one such as him.

"Now!  If you are quite through I will fix your bandages!"

"If you come a step closer I WILL kill you" he hissed evilly at the dragon.  "Leave me…NOW."

"Fine…you…you pathetic excuse for a Mazoku!  Heal yourself if you can!"  Filia struck out with the most hurtful words she could think of at the moment.  On a normal occasion they would have been laughable, and ammunition for more of Xellos' continuous mocking; but this time they elicited a response completely unexpected.

As if in defeat Xellos seemed to shrink in the bed as his ire evaporated, and his heartbreak took hold of him.  "Just go please" he quietly said almost beseechingly.

Filia saw the man who held so much power appear as weak and uncertain as a kitten just for a glimpse before he turned his face away to glare stonily at the wall.  Quietly she backed out of the room, concerned at the apparent weakness she had just witnessed.


End file.
